The Grape Club

We do a lot of talking about wine. So here are ten images of beautiful vineyards belonging to some of the winemakers whose wine we’ve been drinking over the past year.

1. McLaren valley, Australia

Sweeping vineyards in the evening sun. One of our most recent wines – Chapel Hill’s The Parson comes from the McLaren Valley in Southern Australia with the sea just over the hills.

2. Mendoza, Argentina.

Kaiken (who also own Montes) make their delicious Kaiken series in Mendoza. This picture shows the vineyards in the winter. Spectacular…

3. Douro Valley, Portugal

Steep valleys mean all the grapes are picked by hand making it an expensive process. But worth it.

4. Stellenbosh, South Africa

This is a view of one of our favourite brands: Fairview. Wonder whether you can see one of their famous goats…

5. Colchagua Valley, Chile

This is the view from the Montes vineyards. You can see the spectacular Andes in the background. This is definitely on the bucket list.

6. Côtes du Rhône, France – the glorious E.Guigal

Birdseye view of their perfectly kept vineyards, they’re certainly using all available space…

7. Alsace, France

This beautiful French village that borders Germany has belonged to both countries a few times. It’s has Germanic influences all around. We’ve had wines from the great Hugel winery.

8. Barossa Vale, Australia

This is stunning. The Barossa Vale is also where our multiple awarded Dandelion Vineyards are from. Nice place to be.

9. Ribeira del Duero, Spain

From here we had wine from Montevannos made with the Tempranillo grape. Here’s a very leafy vineyard in the evening sun.

10. Paso Robles, California

Last but not least, we have California. We’ve had wine from Smoking Loon made from old Zinfandel vines. The harvest has just taken place here, no grapes to be seen… they’re off to make us some delicious wine.

We’ve got two brands this month from two wine families. One from the eccentric Eschenhof Holzer in Austria (5th generation and current winemaker pictured above, who quite literally lives in the vineyards) and the other from down under in Australia – the glorious Allegory Wines owned by the great Burch Family. One red and one white from each family. Here’s a bit of info on each of them to get your tastebuds going.

The Original Grape Drop

Austria

Eschenhof Holzer Wagram Gruner Veltliner

Origin: Wagram, Austria
Grape: Grüner Veltliner
Case price (6 bottles): £56.00

Grüner Veltliner is a grape that not a lot of people seem to know about. It’s Austria’s biggest asset and the most commonly planted vine variety. It comprises of a third of all plantings in Vienna and incidentally Wagram is one of the best places to find Grüner Veltliner. It’s a fantastic wine especially when produced from one of the top makers like Eschenhof Holzer and with time it evokes similar tastes to those of Burgundy. We like it a lot. It’s also known as “Gru-Ve” because apparently non-German speakers find it hard to pronounce. We don’t agree. Grüner Veltliner it is.

Enjoy this with white meats like chicken or turkey. Or a tin of sardines on a piece of buttery toast, delicious! It has flavours of green apples, peach and even grapefruit. It’s only £56 for 6 bottles, and quite funky labels too (not that you should judge…)

Eschenhof Holzer – Wagram Zweigelt 2013

Origin: Wagram, Austria
Grape: Zweigelt
Case price (6 bottles): £56.00

The second bottle from Eschenhof Holzer is Austria’s most popular red grape: Zweigelt. This variety is a crossing of two others: St. Laurent and Blaufränkisch. Zweigelt brings the elegance of both and is usually best drunk young. From Saint-Laurent it gets its bright, Pinot-like cherry aromas and the ability to create silky, elegant wines. From Blaufrankisch it has taken a certain spiciness. Named after the professor who created it it’s proving to be successful over the border in Czech Republic and Slovakia too and even over in Japan. It’s a joy to drink with a spicy pad thai or some paté spread over biscuits.

We look forward to trying more wines produced from Zweigelt over the next few decades as it was only created in 1922. Lots more styles to come from it, we’re sure.

Australia

Allegory – Sauvignon/Semillon 2014

Origin: Western Australia
Grape: 56% Sauvignon Blanc, 44% Semillon
Case price (6 bottles): £59.22

Owned by one of the leading wine families in Western Australia we’ve got a great wine here. It’s varieties are not unusual but blended together was a first that the Aussies invented, it’s quite a pairing. With the mix of typical flavours of both varieties it tastes like a lovely light fruit salad of green apples, limes and melons. Sounds great doesn’t it! This is a drink to be had by the end of the year, it’s not for storing (most whites aren’t). Put it in your fridge and keep it chilled until you decide you need a fresh glass of dry, white wine with your Thai green curry.

Allegory – Cabernet Sauvignon/Merlot 2010

Origin: Western Australia
Grape: 68% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc
Case price (6 bottles): £59.22

‘Only use the best fruit to make the best wines’ Natalie Burch. That’s about all we need to say on this wine. It’s a typical Bordeaux blend and with the vineyards being situated near the sea it produces a cooling affect, just like Bordeaux, so as not to over-ripe the grapes. This is a good bottle to warm you up on these very cold January nights. Have it with a slow roasted leg of lamb and lots of rosemary. With flavours of black cherry, chocolate and coffee you’ll want to open it right away.

Coming from the Burch family, who also own vineyards in France, they really know their stuff. We will certainly be delving into their other brands soon, there’s certainly more to come from these guys.

The Red Grape Drop

With the two reds from the original we added two more, one from each country. A third from Eschenhof Holzer (we can’t get enough of them) and another from Australia (this is a particular favourite) from Chapel Hill in the McLaren Valley. It’s a serious wine. Have a brief read about it.

Chapel Hill, The Parson, Shiraz 2014

Origin: McLaren Valley, Australia
Grape: Shiraz
Case price (6 bottles): £71.94

This wine will last you till about 2024, if you can wait that long. If you’re planning on having it soon have it with a steak, its young tannins will stand up to it. We had it the other day with steak and dauphinoise potatoes and couldn’t get enough of it. Tasting notes say it has flavours of blueberries, I find it hard to see that but it definitely has a wonderful peppery kick to it which makes a dark, red wine like this perfect. Shiraz, known as Syrah in the ‘old world’ of wine, is made with a slightly harsher kick in Australia. Each country brings it’s own uniqueness to this grape and it’s nice to see a variety of styles. Chapel Hill have done their absolute best here.

With the name of the wine changed to The Parson for 2014, it’s a good start to its new life. Chapel Hill have also just celebrated 150 years of winemaking history, they don’t sound like they’re going anywhere fast and we’re happy to hear that.

Eisenhut Holzer – Blauer Zweigelt 2014

Origin: Wagram, Austria
Grape: Zweigelt
Case price (6 bottles): £66.25

Back to Eschenhof Holzer for the final red. This Blauer Zweigelt is a bit richer than the Wagram as it is from their special Eisenhut vineyard. Tobacco and raspberries are a funny couple of tastes to list but try it and you’ll see it really does. It’s a really interesting but delicious taste. It is odd to talk about tobacco in wine but it’s definitely a great addition to any red. It’s also only 13% alcohol so for a red that’s medium range – perfect for those who are wanting to lower their alcohol intake for the start of the year.

We hope you like this second Zweigelt, we thought it would be fun to compare the two styles from one producer. The labels are actually designed by Arnold’s wife Anna who is a very talented graphic designer (Arnold being the winemaker). What a great team they make.